We've moved!

During the week of August 28 - September 4 (Labor Day), BioMedical Translations will be closed for relocation. Our new office in Modesto, California, will reopen on Tuesday, September 5. Our new contact information is:

BioMedical Translations

PO Box 5376

Modesto, CA 95352-5376, USA

 

Phone: (209) 578-3539

Fax: (209) 758-0952

We look forward to satisfying all of your translation needs from our new location this September!
 

2005:

TRADOS^® translation memory software

BioMedical Translations now uses TRADOS^® translation memory software. TRADOS is a computer software that creates an electronic glossary by storing previous translations in segments, composed of phrases or sentences. All translations are still translated, edited and proofread by our human team of qualified medical linguists. But, by using TRADOS, these approved translations are stored in a “translation memory”, a type of glossary, that can be easily accessed by the translation team for future projects. The next time a translator translates a document for a client, s/he can access that client’s memory to see how terms and sentences were previously translated and easily apply those old translations to the new project. These memories, therefore, help maintain consistency between documents, thus reducing the price and time involved for translating documents that are similar to previous translations. The benefits of TRADOS apply to revisions of existing documents, and to brand new translation projects. Questions? Feel free to give us a call to discuss how the BioMedical Translations’ TRADOS team will work for you.

April 2005:
Communication from the Commission of the European Communities: COM(2005) 115

Presented on April 6, 2005, the COM 2005 115 communication is titled “Healthier, safer, more confident citizens: a Health and Consumer protection Strategy.” The strategy has 5 main goals:

1) protect citizens against health threats
2) promote policies leading to a healthier way of life
3) reduce the incidences of major diseases in the EU
4) develop more effective and efficient health systems
5) support the above goals through health information and analysis

These goals encompass everything from using health education to reduce the use of tobacco, to developing better ways of stopping potential epidemics, to ensuring the safety of available medical products. Some of the major elements of this plan are the promotion of communication between nations of the EU, and between the EU and outside nations, and potentially more rigorous regulatory procedures.

To view the Communication in full, see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_overview/Documents/com_2005_0115_en.pdf or for more general information about the EU Public Health programs: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/

October 2004:
Dialect difficulties

Last year, seven Austrian General Practitioners found themselves up against some unexpected obstacles when they started their employment in Yorkshire, England. Coming to Yorkshire to answer the shortage of GPs, the Austrian doctors were surprised to find that the native dialect, particularly with regards to describing body parts and pains, was practically incomprehensible compared to the English that they had studied at home! The Austrians had been checked beforehand for the requisite medical experience and an excellent command of the English language. Unfortunately, the hiring agents failed to take under consideration the extreme dialect differences of the South Yorkshire dialect. Now that they’ve had some time to adjust and learn the native medical terminology, the Austrian GPs are doing just fine. However, Yorkshire officials aren’t taking any more chances and are currently in the process of revising Nips to Gut Rot, a glossary of Yorkshire medical terms.

For more about this story, visit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1322568,00.html

July 2004:
Canada expands their official word list

Canada has just added 5,000 new words to the Second Edition of the Canadian Oxford dictionary. The new words include terms referring to current cultural, political, and economic trends in modern society, such as “eurozone”, “Japanimation” and “eco-warrior.” At BioMedical Translations, our linguists are always kept up-to-date on current language trends by frequently returning to their native country, and by the use of linguists currently living abroad.

See http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/language/ for a more extensive list of the new official Canadian words.

June 2004:
The most difficult word to translate

A committee of 1,000 linguists has chosen the most difficult word to translate: ilunga. “Ilunga”, from a language spoken in DR Congo, literally means “a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.” While this may seem straight forward enough when out of context, trying to translate the word in the middle of a sentence, in a culturally correct way, can be quite the challenge!

Translation is not just about translating word-by-word in a dictionary-friendly fashion. The cultural emphases of both languages, and the ever changing connotations and implications of terminology, necessitate that translators stay constantly afoot of how a culture uses its language. Having three linguists review any given translation, and using translators that often return to their native country to experience the live language, ensures that all of the cultural nuances are understood and well expressed in our translations.

For more information, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3830521.stm
and the NCTA Translorial:
http://www.ncta.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=41, Vol. XXVII, #2, May 2005, “Untranslatable words.”

October 2003:
Machine translation – a risky business

With the increased use and availability of the internet, more and more machine translation sites have become available, offering to translate words, phrases, or even entire web pages. While these sites may provide a low-cost (even free), rough translation of isolated words and phrases, the finished translation of more complex sentences or phraseology can result in completely incomprehensible gibberish.

Recently, a small German town had to dispose of an entire batch of English tourism brochures, after using a machine translation tool to translate from the original German. The printed copy turned out to be completely unintelligible, and the city of Homberg-an-der-Efze ended up spending a lot more time and money with the “quick and easy” option than the traditional human approach.

Translation is not just the stringing together of segments that have been independently translated, but rather, requires an in-depth knowledge of the cultures and contexts of both the source and target languages. At this point in time, computers can not yet determine the best word or phrasing choice based on the intended audience and style of a passage. Good translations require scrutiny and evaluation of the pieces of a sentence, and at the sentence as a whole, to create an appropriate and fluent sentence. Only skilled translators can balance accuracy and coherence with the fluency and aesthetics of a native-language text. At BioMedical Translations, we always use qualified human translators, to ensure that you receive the accurate, appropriate and fluent translation you are seeking.

For more information, please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3186936.stm

More Machine Translation:
Fun with computer generated translation!

We were curious about what kind of translations a machine translation website might produce. When one considers the technicality of medical translations, the multiple meanings of a single written word (for example, “bow” meaning a tied ribbon, a weapon, and the act of bending at the waist), and the subtlety and complexity of language, we wanted to see how a computer could meet the challenge. First, we entered an English sentence and had the machine translation website translate it into French or Spanish. We chose sentences that ranged from highly technical to standard phrases, focusing on sentences that frequently appear in the medical documents we translate. Then, using that translation, we had the website back translate its own translation into English. In theory, the back translated English should match the original English. Here are the results of our experiment, using one of the leading machine translation websites:

Original English: Content sterile.
Machine translated French: Contente stérile.
Machine translated back translation: Satisfy sterile.


Original English: Failure to do so may result in complications.
Machine translated French: Le manque de faire ainsi peut avoir comme conséquence les complications.
Machine translated back translation: The lack to make thus can have like consequence the complications.


Original English: Advance the cannula toward the target tissue, keeping the tip in contact with the anterior surface during the dissection process.
Machine translated Spanish: Avance la cánula hacia el tejido fino de la blanco, manteniendo la extremidad contacto con la superficie anterior durante el proceso de la disección.
Machine translated back translation: Advance the cannula towards the fine weave of the target, maintaining the extremity contact with the previous surface during the process of the dissection.


Original English: Federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician.
Machine translated Spanish: La ley federal restringe este dispositivo a la venta por o en la orden de un médico.
Machine translated back translation: The federal law on sale restricts east device by or in the order of a doctor.

And our personal favorite,

Original English: Store in a cool, dry place.
Machine translated Spanish: Almacén en un lugar fresco, seco.
Machine translated back translation: Warehouse in a fresh, dry place.


Would you trust your surgeon using these instructions?

©2007 BioMedical Translations. All rights reserved.